Faction leader withdraws support

Demonstrations were staged in parts of Bay and Bakol, southern Somalia, following the announcement by Colonel Mohamed Hasan Nur ‘Shatigadud’, chairman of the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA, that he was withdrawing his support from the new government. According to the BBC, demonstrators chanted anti-Shatigadud slogans. In the regional capital, Baidoa, militiamen loyal to Shatigudud, opened fire with heavy weapons, but no casualties were reported. Shatigudud’s position has caused split in the RRA, which is based in the Bay and Bakool regions and supported by Ethiopia. Shatigudud said he no longer recognised the authority of the transitional assembly in which he was allotted a seat. He accused the clan of the interim president of “illegal land occupation” - a reference to the Hawiye invasion during the civil war - and said the government had not taken into account the wishes of the other regions and leaders, AFP reported. Shatigudud said earlier this week that he had no problem with the new president, Abdiqasim Salad Hasan, but rejected the election as Speaker of his fellow RRA leader, Abdullahi Deroow. According to the BBC, he also complained he was not given any of the 20 extra seats that Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh was allotted for distribution during the Djibouti-hosted talks.